Tariff exemptions widespread

Many of the imports feeding the U.S. artificial intelligence buildout were carved out of Trump-era tariffs, softening the policy’s reach. (nber.org) Economist Michael E. Waugh found that 69% of U.S. AI-related imports by value appeared on at least one exemption list. His April 2026 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper says AI-related products made up 23% of U.S. imports in 2025. (nber.org) The exemptions were heaviest in the most valuable category. Waugh’s March 2026 slides show compute hardware was “almost entirely shielded,” with 97% of its $354 billion in imports covered by an exemption. (waugheconomics.com) Those products are the physical guts of an AI data center: graphics processing units, servers, memory, networking gear, cooling systems, transformers, and backup power equipment. Waugh classified 645 U.S. tariff codes as highly relevant to building or operating AI-focused data centers. (waugheconomics.com) Imports of those AI-related goods rose 73% from 2023 to 2025, while imports of non-AI goods rose 3% over the same period. Waugh estimates the U.S. goods trade deficit would have been nearly $200 billion smaller in 2025 without the AI import surge. (nber.org) Federal Reserve researchers described the same force in February, writing that the AI infrastructure boom was boosting demand for critical inputs and intermediate goods needed to build data centers. They said U.S. data-center spending alone was expected to exceed half a trillion dollars in 2025. (federalreserve.gov) That helps explain why tariff policy has looked uneven in practice. The Trump administration exempted smartphones, computers, semiconductors, and other electronics from some new reciprocal tariffs in April 2025, even as it kept a broader tariff push in place. (usatoday.com) Companies building data centers have said the shifting rules complicate budgets and sourcing. USA Today reported on April 3, 2025 that big technology companies were reworking spending plans as tariffs threatened the cost of AI infrastructure. (usatoday.com) The trade map is concentrated, not broad. Waugh’s paper says Mexico and Taiwan together account for about half of all U.S. trade in AI-related products, leaving buyers exposed not just to tariffs but to any change in exemption lists or country-specific policy. (nber.org) The result is a tariff regime that taxed some imports, spared many of the core AI ones, and left suppliers watching the next exemption notice as closely as the next chip shipment. (nber.org)